Major needs your help
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Imagine, one day you have a home; the next, someone is pushing you out of a car, leaving you in a cloud of dust. You run after the car, trying to catch up, but it’s no use. You look around, and suddenly, everything looks very scary. That’s what happened to Major, a Shepherd mix. We were first notified that a dog had been dumped at the Lake Waco Dam on Thursday, June 17, 2010. It took three days, but on Sunday, June 20, Major found his way to Fuzzy Friends Rescue and we were able to assess his needs. What we found broke our hearts. He may have been dumped recently, but his neglect has been going on for a while.

Major has severe demodectic mange. Demodectic mange is also known as “demodex”, or “red mange.” It is a treatable, non-contagious skin condition caused by a mite. Some dogs have very mild cases, but Major hasn’t been so lucky. He has to take antibiotics to fight a secondary bacterial infection due to the raw, infected lesions over his entire body. Major has hookworms, whipworms and worse – Major has heartworms. He is underweight, and has one of the worst tick infestations we have ever seen. Major has so many parasites literally sucking the life out of him, that his gums are white, a sign of severe anemia., which is a lack of red blood cells. Sometimes anemia can be so critical, that blood transfusions are necessary. The first day, two employees spent an hour just bathing Major, and removing hundreds of ticks from him. Tick-borne diseases are quite serious and can even be fatal for your dog or cat. Even worse, ticks can carry more than one type of disease and pets can be co-infected with two or more different diseases at the same time.

In the few days that Major has been with us, we have found him to be a friendly, non-aggressive, housetrained dog. A dog, who at one time, had a home, someone to teach him to “go outside”. Maybe he had a yard in which to run. Maybe he played with children, or chased a ball. Maybe he remembers going on walks, and getting “pets and scratches.” Maybe he remembers getting belly rubs. Major has accepted every thing we have done to him – skin scraping, drawing blood, bathing, tick removal, etc., stoically, as if he knows we are doing everything in our power to help him. That is why we can’t let this dog down! We must help Major!

Major needs YOUR help! He has multiple medical issues, and while hookworms and whipworms are easily treated, it’s going to take time and money to restore him to the health he so richly deserves. Major desperately needs your donations to help pay for the live-saving heartworm treatment he needs, and the medications necessary to treat his skin condition. With your generous donations, we are able to save Major and many more dogs with the same medical issues. Won’t you please help Major today?